AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
`He is going to change the world': Funeral held for Floyd
HOUSTON (AP) — George Floyd was fondly remembered Tuesday as “Big Floyd” — a father and brother, athlete and neighborhood mentor, and now a catalyst for change — at a funeral for the black man whose death has sparked a global reckoning over police brutality and racial prejudice.
More than 500 mourners wearing masks against the coronavirus packed a Houston church a little more than two weeks after Floyd was pinned to the pavement by a white Minneapolis police officer who put a knee on his neck for what prosecutors said was 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Cellphone video of the encounter, including Floyd's pleas of “I can't breathe,” ignited protests and scattered violence across the U.S. and around the world, turning the 46-year-old Floyd — a man who in life was little known beyond the public housing project where he was raised in Houston’s Third Ward — into a worldwide symbol of injustice.
“Third Ward, Cuney Homes, that's where he was born at," Floyd's brother, Rodney, told mourners at the Fountain of Praise church. “But everybody is going to remember him around the world. He is going to change the world.”
The funeral capped six days of mourning for Floyd in three cities: Raeford, North Carolina, near where he was born., Houston, where he grew up, and Minneapolis, where he died. The memorials have drawn the families of other black victims whose names have become familiar in the debate over race and justice — among them, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin.
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Trump eyes racial equality debate through economic lens
WASHINGTON (AP) — In his comments since George Floyd died, President Donald Trump has shared lots of opinions about the need for “law and order,” about fighting crime and the dangerous ideas of the “liberal left.” When it comes to addressing racism, not so much.
Trump has remained largely silent on that, except to argue that a strong economy is the best antidote. He insists he’s “done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.”
But the lack of substantive discussion of racism by the White House has opened the president to criticism that he has failed to show leadership during the unrest following Floyd's death and has inflamed the situation with his “law and order” mantra and tweets about looting and shooting, vicious dogs and ominous weapons.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, says Trump’s relative silence on racism and harsh rhetoric toward protesters have created a confounding dynamic for a consequential national conversation.
“I think we have to have the conversation with him being absent,” Bottoms said. “Having a conversation with him would be like having a conversation with a madman. It would mean nothing."
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Heat, rain, long lines: Georgia election plagued by problems
ATLANTA (AP) — Voters endured heat, pouring rain and waits as long as five hours on Tuesday to cast ballots in Georgia, demonstrating a fierce desire to participate in the democratic process while raising questions about the emerging battleground state's ability to manage elections in November when the White House is at stake.
A confluence of events disrupted primary elections for president, U.S. Senate and dozens of other contests.
The polls were staffed by fewer workers because of concerns about the coronavirus. A reduced workforce contributed to officials consolidating polling places, which disproportionately affected neighborhoods with high concentrations of people of color. Long lines were also reported in whiter suburban areas.
Some voters said they requested mail-in ballots that never arrived, forcing them to go to polling places and adding to the lines. Turnout, meanwhile, may be higher than expected as voters said they were determined to vote following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the ensuing demonstrations that swept cities including Atlanta.
There was also trouble with Georgia’s new voting system that combines touchscreens with scanned paper ballots.
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Video evidence increasingly disproves police narratives
Minneapolis police initially told the public that George Floyd died after a “medical incident during a police interaction.” The Buffalo, New York, department said a protester “tripped and fell." Philadelphia police alleged that a college student who suffered a serious head wound had assaulted an officer.
All three claims were quickly disproved by videos seen widely on the internet and television, fueling mistrust and embarrassing agencies that made misleading or incomplete statements that painted their actions in a far more favorable light.
Police departments deny lying but acknowledge sometimes making mistakes when releasing information in fast-moving, complicated situations. The videos, they say, do not always capture officers' perspectives.
Defense lawyers say the inaccurate statements are encouraged by a culture of silence in which officers protect misbehaving colleagues, a court system that rarely holds officers accountable and a public that has given police the benefit of the doubt.
Floyd died after a white officer put his knee on his neck, even after Floyd stopped moving. Cellphone video showed him pleading for air as other officers stood by and bystanders urged the police to help him.
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Human remains found at property of man tied to missing kids
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities said they uncovered human remains at an Idaho man’s home Tuesday as they investigated the disappearance of his new wife's two children — a case that's drawn global attention for its ties to two other mysterious deaths and the couple's doomsday beliefs.
Chad Daybell, who married the children’s mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, was taken into custody after investigators searched his property, according to police in the small town of Rexburg. He has not been charged, and his attorney, Mark Means, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan haven’t been seen since September, and police say Chad and Lori Daybell lied to investigators about the children's whereabouts before quietly leaving Idaho. They were found in Hawaii months later. Besides the missing children, the couple has been under scrutiny following the deaths of both of their former spouses.
Rexburg police and investigators from the FBI and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office searched Chad Daybell’s home in the eastern Idaho town of Salem for the second time. The search warrant is sealed, and Rexburg Assistant Police Chief Gary Hagan said in a statement that he couldn't reveal details other than to say the search was linked to the children's disappearance.
“Throughout the investigation, detectives and investigators have recovered what’s believed to be human remains that have not been identified at this time,” Hagan said.
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Confusion reigns as UN scrambles mask, virus spread advice
LONDON (AP) — It's an issue that's been argued about for months, both by experts and by people strolling through parks all over the world: Can people who don't feel sick spread the coronavirus, and if so should we all be wearing masks to stop it?
Even the World Health Organization can't seem to get it straight. On Tuesday the U.N. health agency scrambled to explain seemingly contradictory comments it has made in recent days about the two related issues.
The confusion and mixed messages only makes controlling the pandemic that much more difficult, experts say.
“If you are giving them confusing messages or they’re not convinced about why they should do something, like wear masks, they will just ignore you,” said Ivo Vlaev, a professor of behavioral sciences at the University of Warwick.
The communications debacle highlighted WHO’s change to its longstanding mask advice — a revision that was made months after many other organizations and countries already recommended people don masks.
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Masks reveal partisan split among lawmakers on coronavirus
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — To the issues creating a partisan divide in state legislatures across the U.S., add this one: masks.
Many Democratic lawmakers are wearing them amid the coronavirus outbreak while many Republicans refuse.
"Public health has become partisan,” bemoaned South Carolina state Rep. Kambrell Garvin, a Democrat who recently became ill from COVID-19.
As legislatures around the country resume work following coronavirus suspensions, Democrats and Republicans also have split over social distancing, remote voting and the extension of emergency powers for governors who had ordered businesses to close and residents to remain home.
Lawmakers have become ill from the coronavirus in nearly half the states, with Democrats accounting for about two-thirds of the 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to an Associated Press tally. Three lawmakers died of the virus — a Michigan Democrat in late March and Republicans in Louisiana and South Dakota in early April.
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Fired Atlanta officers file suit against mayor, police chief
ATLANTA (AP) — Two Atlanta police officers who were fired after video showed them using stun guns on two college students pulled from a car in traffic during a large protest against police brutality are looking to get their jobs back.
Former Investigators Mark Gardner and Ivory Streeter sued Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Police Chief Erika Shields on Monday.
The lawsuit alleges that the officers were fired in violation of the city's code, without investigation, proper notice or a pre-disciplinary hearing.
Bottoms and Shields have said they reviewed body camera footage from the May 30 incident and decided to immediately fire the officers and place three others on desk duty. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard brought criminal charges on June 2 against Gardner, Streeter and four other officers involved in the incident.
Gardner and Streeter are charged with aggravated assault — Gardner for using a Taser against 20-year-old Taniyah Pilgrim and Streeter for using a Taser against 22-year-old Messiah Young — according to warrants.
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Insurance telemarketers fined $225M for a billion robocalls
The U.S. communications regulator on Tuesday proposed a $225 million fine, its largest ever, against two health insurance telemarketers for spamming people with 1 billion robocalls using fake phone numbers.
The Federal Communications Commission said John Spiller and Jakob Mears made the calls through two businesses. State attorneys general of Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas also sued the two men and their companies, Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom, in federal court in Texas, where both men live, for violating the federal law governing telemarketing, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
The FCC said the robocalls offered plans from major insurers like Aetna and UnitedHealth with an automated message. If consumers pressed a button for more information, however, they were transferred to a call center that sold plans not connected to those companies. The FCC said the Missouri attorney general sued Rising Eagle’s largest client, Health Advisors of America, for telemarketing violations last year.
Over more than four months in early 2019, the FCC said, these telemarketers faked the number their calls displayed in caller ID with intent to deceive consumers; purposefully called people who are on the Do Not Call list; and called people's mobile phones without getting permission first.
Consumers weren't the only ones bothered. The telemarketers faked their calls to make them appear they came from other companies, which then received angry calls and were named in lawsuits from consumers. The FCC didn't name these companies, but said one got so many calls that its phone network “became unusable.”
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What is herd immunity and could it work with COVID-19?
What is herd immunity and could it work with COVID-19?
Herd immunity is when a virus can no longer spread easily because enough people are immune to it. That lowers the chances of the virus jumping from person to person and reaching those who haven’t been infected yet.
People can become immune to certain viruses after surviving infection or being vaccinated. Typically, at least 70% of a population must be immune to achieve herd immunity. But how long immunity lasts varies depending on the virus, and it's not yet known how long COVID-19 survivors might have that protection.
How easily the virus spreads also plays a key role.
Say, for example, someone who's infected with a particular virus typically transmits it to two others. The chances of that person passing it on to others would be lower if half the population is already immune, said Dr. Walter Orenstein, a vaccine expert at Emory University.